The City Commission will meet for a special meeting at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 22nd, 2022 at City Hall in the City Commission meeting room at 123 South Main Street, Fort Scott, Kansas. This meeting will be held to approve the severance agreement for Kelley Zellner.
This meeting will be broadcast on the City’s You tube channel. This meeting is open to the public.
Effective September 21st, 2022, Josh Jones has rescinded his resignation as a City Commissioner, therefore, there is no open City Commission spot at this time.
The City Commission will meet for a special meeting at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 21st, 2022 at City Hall in the City Commission meeting room at 123 South Main Street, Fort Scott, Kansas. The City Commission is expected to recess into Executive Session. The meeting is open to the public, but the Executive Session is not.
This meeting will be broadcast on the City’s You tube channel. This meeting is open to the public.
TOPEKA – Today, Governor Laura Kelly celebrated that for the past ten months, Kansas’ unemployment rate has been below 2.9% — the previous historic low last reached in August 1978. For each of those months, Kansas’ unemployment rate was over a full percentage point below the nation’s unemployment rate.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Kansas has the 8th lowest unemployment rate in the country.
“We have been tireless about prioritizing job creation, business investment, and workforce development – and it’s clear our efforts are paying off,” said Governor Kelly. “For ten straight months, Kansas has far outstripped the nation as a whole when it comes to ensuring people have the high-quality employment they need to provide for their families and contribute to their communities.”
This month, Governor Kelly announced that Kansas has surpassed 50,000 jobs created and retained since the start of her administration.
Kansas began keeping records of monthly unemployment rates in January 1976.
Sept 19, 2022
Even though the Legislature is not in session, there have been some interim committee meetings and several people have asked that I write an update.
COVID Money
Last week, a Legislative Post-Audit (LPA) report on federal COVID-19 money distributions and spending was presented. Kansas governments (state, counties, cities, schools…) received over $34 billion of the $5.2 trillion from six major federal COVID relief programs in 2020 and 2021. The $34 billion doesn’t include federal money sent directly to Kansas non-profits, businesses, and individuals through other programs, like the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Keep in mind state spending in 2014 (before the two massive tax increases that I did not support) was under $6 billion State General Funds and $15 billion All Funds. In 2022 it is estimated to be $8.5 billion and $22.3 billion, so the federal government dumped more money on Kansas governments than the state spends in one year. With the federal government handing out this amount of money it is no wonder we are experiencing inflation.
Out of the $34 billion, LPA reviewed a sampling of 78 CARES Act purchases, projects, and grants totaling just under $18 million. Approximately $4.3 million of the $18 million reviewed had possible issues and a portion “appeared to be wasteful or of concern”. “For example, one county spent almost $225,000 to add showers to a community emergency shelter… [another community] spent $20,000 to help put on a local festival… another county spent funds on donuts, pastries, and coffee for meetings”. The report is posted online at https://www.kslpa.org/audit-report-library/covid-relief-funding-distribution/. Such waste in the $18 million makes one question how much of the $34 billion was wasted? And what the total waste was of the trillions of dollars given away by the federal government?
Unemployment Fraud
The Unemployment Council also met to review an independent audit. The audit estimated over $400 million was paid out in fraudulent unemployment claims and over 200 security vulnerabilities were found within the Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL) unemployment system. The $400 million is a considerable drop from estimates of over $700 million presented by LPA earlier this year. Neither number is good news. To put it into perspective, our neighbors to the west, Colorado with a population of almost double Kansas, reported $73 million in fraudulent payments.
On a positive note, many property taxpayers will not see as high of increases because of the Revenue Neutral Rate (RNR) transparency. Several counties and other local governments, including a school district in Leavenworth County, chose not to increase property taxes this year.
It is an honor and a privilege to serve as your 12th District State Senator.
Caryn
The Bourbon County Senior Citizens are try to get the word out about the Commodities and Sr. Food Bank Distribution. We have had to change the distribution date from Friday, Sept. 23 to Sat. Sept 24. The time of the distribution will be from 9:oo To Noon at Bourbon County Senior Citizens building is at 26 N. Main.
If you have any questions you can contact Jackie Sellers at (620)364-6524.
Submitted by
Jackie Sellers
Fort Scott Kan. – The United States District Court for the District of Kansas will hold a special naturalization ceremony at the Fort Scott National Historic Site in Fort Scott, Kansas on Friday, September 23, 2022, at 10:30 a.m. The Honorable Teresa J. James, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Kansas, will preside over the ceremony on the historic grounds of the Fort. The ceremony features musical performances from the Fort Scott High School orchestra and choir, and an address from Mark McCoy, former city manager for the City of Fort Scott.
Approximately 120 applicants will be naturalized at the ceremony, which is open to the public. There will be seating for the applicants, but other seating will be limited. Friends, family, and guests are highly encouraged to bring lawn chairs or picnic blankets for seating. In case of rain or other inclement weather, the ceremony will be held at Fort Scott Memorial Hall.
McIntyre settlement agreement requires yearly reports from neutral party
TOPEKA – Kansas foster children have stable placements and are experiencing fewer moves while in care, according to the first report from the Neutral Third Party in the McIntyre class action lawsuit settlement.
“My administration inherited a broken child welfare system that had an unacceptable number of children in care, a lack of placement stability, and limited prevention services,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “Under my Administration, we now have 1,300 fewer children in the system, and the Neutral Report shows we have made substantial progress in making sure kids are in stable placements and experience fewer moves. There’s more work to be done, but this report shows we are headed in the right direction.”
The McIntyre class action lawsuit was filed in 2018 under the Colyer Administration by Kansas Appleseed, Children’s Rights, and the National Center for Youth Law against the Governor, Kansas Department for Children and Families, Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The Governor was later dismissed from the case.
The parties agreed to a settlement in 2020. The settlement was structured to ensure Kansas would achieve substantial progress and compliance in key performance areas over a multi-year period. Performance areas include accountability, reporting and implementation, practice improvements and outcomes. The settlement recognizes that the outcomes and practice improvements will not all be accomplished in one year. Outcome goals were set for a three-to-four-year period.
Judith Meltzer, President of the Center for the Study of Social Policy serves as the Neutral Third Party responsible for assessing the State’s first year progress. This first report covers calendar year 2021.
“Reforming a child welfare system is a complex and multi-year endeavor,” Meltzer said. “During this first year, Kansas has made considerable progress in addressing some fundamental problems and has started down a path that we anticipate will lead to further improvements in the years ahead and to sustainable and meaningful improvements for Kansas children and families.”
Kansas made significant progress in placement stability. The Neutral validated that Kansas achieved its first-year benchmarks for placement stability and placement moves. Children in care experienced a rate of 5.84 moves per 1,000 days – more than meeting the benchmark of seven moves per 1,000 days. The report also shows that 86% of Kansas kids were in stable placements during CY 21, surpassing the benchmark of 80%.
“The report affirms our commitment to Kansas children by continuing efforts to build an effective child welfare system,” DCF Secretary Laura Howard said. “Using tools like kinship placements, partnerships with community agencies to provide trauma-informed support to foster parents and prioritizing families over facilities, these have all had a positive impact on this issue.”
The state does have more work to do in both temporary overnight placements and night-to-night or short-term placements. Children who experience a failure to place often have complex developmental, medical, behavioral or safety needs.
DCF is working to build capacity through several new initiatives. The agency has created the Failure to Place Prevention Network with the goal of creating stand-by service beds and other ways for family foster home to serve one child at a time. DCF also is addressing gaps with the addition of Therapeutic Foster Homes that launched in 2022.
The report also shows Kansas achieved several accountability benchmarks mandated by the agreement. Those include:
State agencies also are making significant progress in mental health practice improvements and outcomes despite not reaching the CY 21 benchmarks.
“Addressing mental and behavioral health needs is vital if we are to have a strong child and family well-being system,” Howard said. “We know there is more work to do to strengthen the timely and consistent access to mental health assessments and reviews.”
DCF and its partner agencies will continue to collaborate with the Center for the Study of Social Policy to ensure valid data and look forward to showing more progress in the Period 2 report in 2023.
Those interested in the full CY 21 report can access it via the Center for the Study of Social Policy website.
This is an updated Fort Scott Community College Board of Trustees agenda that includes an additional action item for John Deere laptops.
The City of Fort Scott Water Distribution Department in conjunction with J. Richardson Company will be closing the intersection of Eddy Street at Clairmont. This will begin on Tuesday, September 20th through September 27th. 17th and Eddy will also be closed periodically for daytime closures.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. If you have any questions or concerns, please call 620-223-0550 and ask for Water Distribution.
Agenda
Bourbon County Commission Room
1st Floor, County Courthouse
210 S. National Avenue
Fort Scott, KS 66701
Date: September 20, 2022
1st District–Nelson Blythe Minutes: Approved: _______________
2nd District–Jim Harris Corrected: _______________________
3rd District–Clifton Beth Adjourned at: _______________
County Clerk–Ashley Shelton
MEETING HELD IN THE COMMISSION ROOM BEGINNING at 9:00AM.
Call to Order
• Flag Salute
• Approval of Minutes from previous meeting
• Eric Bailey – Road & Bridge Report
• Susan Bancroft – Road Closure
• Bill Martin – Vehicles
• Justin Meeks – County Counselor Comment
• Susan Bancroft – Chief Financial Officer Comment
• Shane Walker – Chief Information Officer Comment
• Public Comment
• Commission Comment
Justifications for Executive Session:
KSA 75–4319(b)(1) To discuss personnel matters of individual nonelected personnel to protect their privacy
KSA 75–4319(b)(2) For consultation with an attorney for the public body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney–client relationship
KSA 75–4319(b)(3) To discuss matters relating to employer–employee negotiations whether or not in consultation with the representative(s) of the body or agency
KSA 75–4319(b)(4) To discuss data relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trust, and individual proprietorships
KSA 75–4319(b)(6) For the preliminary discussion of the acquisition of real property
KSA 75–4319(b)(12) To discuss matters relating to security measures, if the discussion of such matters at an open meeting would jeopardize such security measures.
September 19, 2022
Board of Trustees
Fort Scott Community College
2108 S. Horton
Fort Scott, KS 66701
The Board of Trustees of Fort Scott Community College will meet in regular session on Monday,
September 19, 2022. The meeting will be held in Cleaver-Burris-Boileau Hall at Fort Scott Community College.
5:00 p.m. Dinner in Cleaver-Burris-Boileau Hall at Regular board meeting begins at 5:30 p.m.
THE AGENDA
5:00 DINNER
5:30 ROLL CALL, 3
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
CALL TO ORDER, 4
A. Comments from the Chair, 4
B. Comments from the Public, 4
CONSENT AGENDA, 5
A. Approval of Agenda, 5
B. Approval of Minutes of previous Regular Board Meeting conducted on August 29, 2022, 6
C. Approval of Treasurer’s Report, Bills, and Claims, 9
D. Approval of Personnel Actions, 5
ACTION/DISCUSSION ITEMS, 53
A. Approval of Workforce Development Vehicle Purchase, 53
B. Consideration of Heavy Equipment Simulator Bids, 54
REPORTS, 55
A. Administrative Updates, 55
EXECUTIVE SESSION, 69
ADJOURNMENT
CONSENT AGENDA
A. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
B. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS
1) Attached are the minutes of the Regular Board Meeting conducted on August 29,
2022.
C. APPROVAL OF TREASURER’S REPORT, BILLS and CLAIMS
Attached are the Treasurer’s Report and the Bills and Claims Report.
D. APPROVAL OF PERSONNEL ACTIONS
1) Additions
a) Michael Clark, CDL Examiner/Mechanic, effective September 12, 2022
b) Cali Griffin, Assistant Rodeo Coach, effective September 13, 2022
c) Tommy Myers, CTEC Director, effective October 4, 2022
2) Separations
a) Kennda Major, HEP Database Manager, effective September 14, 2022
To view the entire packet:
